Family members that want a forum and then lose interest

family sites have to start with a blog, not a forum... when you have the habit of posting in a blog, you see if you want a second level of things.

i've had the exact same situation last year when about 25 members of my family asked me to create a site with a forum so we could meet online because we are seperated abroad the planet...

after 3 weeks - and about 500 visits, the only thing that was posted there were my own threads, as i needed to startup the site with content. i posted some albums from the family, comments about my life, questions and projects... basic things so, same as in my blog. the only echo i received was some cousins telling me that the site was boring because i was the only one posting... -- ok, my relatives are stupid -- ... that was my only answer, i closed the forum instead of spending all my time for nothing.

[cheat-master30]

I know how you feel about the family and wanting a forum thing, I've had a similar situation where a cousin wanted a forum for an (often passing interest) twice, maybe even three times, and all those times it ended up with the forum completely dead and abandoned two days after opening, at best.

My best advice in this regard is simply to spend as little money as you can when starting forums for people as a favour (aka, use free forum software and the like), as truth be told, the vast majority of people just do not have the patience level required to run a forum. In your experiences, it also seems like you're working WAY too much to promote a site that may or may not succeed, and that to remember a lot of people often change interests rather regularly.

Still, I guess if nothing becomes of these sites, you could always either take over the management of them (think of it as a new hobby), or close them down and use the licenses for whatever future project (although I'm kinda personally surprised people actually invest money in licenses, promotion and top end hosting for even the sites for those who might lose interest that quickly, and what not).

[harmor19]

I custom coded a social networking site that's targeted towards Christians my grandma asked me to make.
I spent over a months coding it and it's pretty much done. I want to expand upon some things but those can be done at a later date. I told my grandma that the site is ready enough to tell her friends to come and join and I'm hoping they find the site easy to use.

For those interested here is the site My Godly Page - A place for Christians
My grandma picked out the domain name.

always trying to advertise yourself Andrew... tsss

[iogames]

it's inborn
well never happen to me, because firstly I tell them how hard it's... then, they can go and think about it and return to me with a resolution... for some reason I don't understand why you didn't detect or foresee this happening... lastly I would sell my effort to recover my investment.

p.s. the disappointment part? I can't help

btw: Hey good parenthood there :up:

you really are a helpful neighbour Josh... rofl

[towermatt]

I just make everyone that wants help pay up front.

That weeds out people who really don't want to do it. Yes, even my kids.

[kevcj]

Originally Posted by iogames

lastly I would sell my effort to recover my investment.

Thank you, but nothing I have is for sale, unless its for a very, very, very good price.

Originally Posted by iogames

btw: Hey good parenthood there :up:

Thank you again.

[Magnumutz]

Originally Posted by kevcj

I'am not really bitter, but I am a little disappointed. I was hoping that this site could have been a project that my son and I could share - kinda like building a model airplane together. But in this case, we built a website together,

If my dad and me would have wanted to have something like this in common, man i'd be the happiest kid ever (what i was a kid).
Too bad he doesn't know what a good and thoughtful dad he has...
Hope he brightens up

All the best to you kev and your family, it seems to me that your a good parent (i'm not complaining about mine, but a little bit more effort from my dad wouldn't have hurt).

[TehForum]

It depends on what site or forum you are making.
My forum statistics are alright, i get alot of members on per day.
But then i lose intrest but i then i always come back and try the forum more active.